Mencius Fairy Tales

喻守真Zhonghua Book Company (Shanghai) · ChinaOct 2021

3.3

Word count: 13K words
Chapters: 15

Summary

Mencius was named Ke, styled Ziyu, and came from Zou in the Warring States period—present-day Zou County, Shandong Province. He studied under the school of Zisi, Confucius's grandson, so his learning derived directly from Confucius. Yet the rulers of the various states at that time all spoke of warfare, and hearing talk of benevolence, righteousness, and moral virtue, they found it tiresome. Thus Mencius was rebuffed wherever he went, could gain no position of power, and could only return to lecture on learning and discuss government with his disciples, which became the present seven chapters of the Mencius. All that is set forth there is the great doctrine of loyalty and filial piety, benevolence and love, faithfulness and righteousness, and peace. Moreover, his rhetoric was excellent, and he could use highly interesting stories to explain the principles he discussed. Therefore the aim in selecting pieces for this book was to choose those most interesting and containing the greatest principles, and to give them literary treatment, so that readers may come to know what sort of person Mencius was.

Editor's review

Mencius for Children selects the most entertaining and character-revealing stories from the Mencius and retells them in a literary style, making a classic that usually sits stiffly upright approachable and readable. Its value lies not in word-by-word annotation but in using story as an entry point, first letting readers come to know what sort of person Mencius was: a scholar who would not lower his aims before the rulers of the Warring States and who returned to his disciples to teach and discuss government. The author, Yu Shouzhen, long worked in Chinese-language education and the popularization of classics; his prose is clean and his narration well measured, neither modernizing the ancients nor turning principles into dry dogma. Reading this book, one also gains a sense of the environment of the Warring States period, understands why Mencius was "rebuffed wherever he went," and more easily grasps what words like loyalty and filial piety, benevolence and love, faithfulness and righteousness, and peace mean in concrete situations. It is suitable as a first introduction to the Mencius, for parents and children to read together, or for Chinese teachers to use as classroom extension material. For deeper study of the original text and its principles, an annotated edition is still needed.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Young readers encountering the Mencius for the first time who wish to read stories before the original text
Primary and secondary Chinese teachers who need classroom extension materials and want to bring students closer to the classics
Parents willing to read with their children and discuss together how the ancients conducted themselves
General readers interested in Warring States thinkers who prefer an easy approach

Not a good fit for

Mencius researchers who need chapter-by-chapter, sentence-by-sentence annotation and rigorous doctrinal analysis
Readers expecting the complete original text of the seven chapters of the Mencius
People who want only pure stories and are unwilling to engage with any discussion of principles

Reading tips

Read through the stories first; when a piece interests you, go back to the corresponding passage in the original Mencius and read them side by side.
After each story, write down in one or two sentences what Mencius insisted on and what he refused in that story.
When reading together as a family, assign roles and read the dialogue aloud; afterward have the child retell the story and share their own views.
There is no need to read from beginning to end in order; you can pick pieces by theme and then link them together to see the overall image of Mencius.

About the publisher

Zhonghua Book Company (Shanghai) China · Founded in 1912

The Shanghai-based Zhonghua Book Company has, within this catalog, a list centered on parenting titles. Its representative works are Mencius Fairy Tales and Han Feizi Fairy Tales, both involving Yu Shouzheng and Lü Boyou as authors. Judging from the available titles, the publisher focuses on turning pre-Qin classics into story forms suitable for children, using the fairy-tale approach to introduce Mencius's and Han Feizi's ideas and allusions, balancing instruction with interest and serving family parent-child reading and traditional cultural enlightenment. Limited by the in-catalog materials, public information on its full publishing direction and series structure is scarce; the features that can be confirmed so far center on retelling classics in accessible narratives and on having authors versed in literature and history write them.

版权信息
序说
五十步笑百步
以羊易牛
与民同乐
老实的爸爸
托病不见
劳心和劳力
李子和鹅
正直的小门生
东郭乞食
狠心的父母和弟弟
放生的鱼
弈秋教棋
冯妇打虎

FAQ

Is this book a vernacular translation of the Mencius?

It is not a sentence-by-sentence translation. It selects interesting stories containing principles from the Mencius and gives them literary narration, focusing on letting readers know Mencius the man and the principles he discussed rather than providing a complete original-text translation with annotations.

Can I understand it without any grounding in classical Chinese?

Yes. The book tells stories in modern Chinese and does not depend on classical Chinese reading ability. Readers need only follow the narration to grasp the outline of the stories and the principles in them; to go further, they can find an annotated selection of the Mencius.

What age of child is it suitable for?

The narration is plain and straightforward; children in the upper primary grades and above with some reading stamina can try it, while younger children are better off reading with a parent who explains. It also depends on the child's reading habits.

How much will I understand about the Mencius after reading it?

You will gain an intuitive impression of Mencius's life circumstances and intellectual orientation, and know his characteristic of using stories to explain principles. But the complete structure of the seven chapters and the doctrines of specific passages still require continued reading with the original text and annotated editions.

Comments

Find this book

This site is an index: you start “Search all sources” in your browser, and the entries it lists all point to third-party sites; please judge their availability yourself.

About the author

喻守真 Author

Yu Shouzhen is an author credited in Chinese book publishing, but available public information about his life is limited: his dates of birth and death, place of origin, education, and professional career are not clearly recorded. Among the works held in the collection, he is the author of Mencius Fairy Tales, a single title that retells the ideas and stories of Mencius in the manner of fairy tales and is classified as parenting reading. The subject suggests that the author was concerned with adapting classical texts for children, seeking to introduce young readers to basic notions in Mencius and his sayings through simple, story-rich writing. Such work requires familiarity with the original text as well as the ability to turn classical reasoning into plots and language children can understand, balancing the transmission of knowledge with the pleasure of reading. Mencius Fairy Tales can thus be seen as an attempt at traditional cultural启蒙 reading, suitable for parents reading with children, and it offers a reference sample for studying the popularization of national learning and children's writing since the Republican period. Given the limited historical sources, further verification is needed regarding Yu Shouzhen's other writings and activities.